The List

Ok, so this is a piece I wrote a while ago in remembrance of my Aunt. She was my guardian throughout secondary school and was fondly called Aunty Bundle! I credit my love of books, research, and curiosity to learn and improve to her. I still can't help laughing at how boarding school in Nigeria was back then. It's still such a poignant piece and I keep learning from it each time I read it. I hope you will too! 

It was the end of mid-term break and I was ready to take back lots of wonderful goodies to boarding school as was the norm, at least before now.

I stood slightly behind the chair in which she sat, her huge and imposing structure well contained in her favourite chair. It was the one just by the front door with a view of the balcony full of beautiful greens and the road just beyond that. I stood to her left wondering what I was doing there and why my box of provisions wasn’t already packed and ready for me to leave in a few days. She held in her hand what appeared to be my provisions list and I was still perplexed as to the reason for my presence. Then it began:

5 Reasons Why Women Will Never Be Taken Seriously

A lot of women don't like me very much. That's just a fact. It's because I speak it as I see it and women don't really like to hear the truth. I mean we say we want to hear it but we really don't. We just want you to agree with us. 

If we don't find ways around these self-sabotaging behaviours, no one will take us seriously: 

Failure is Necessary

I remember when I was interviewing for an Analyst position in a Consulting firm many moons ago. One question I remember being asked was what I thought about failure.

At first I thought okay, is this a trick question? I am supposed to say failure is bad right? I couldn't decide what answer wouldn't sound phony so I just gave an honest one. 'Failure is necessary', I said.

He stopped taking notes and looked at me for a few seconds, then with more conviction and looking him straight in the eye, I said again, 'Failure is necessary because it's what makes you who you are. You can't say you have grown if you have never failed at anything'.

5 Business Lessons from 'His Way'.

I saw the documentary, 'His Way', highlighting the life of one of Hollywood’s top producers Jerry Weintraub. I honestly just stumbled on the program and was about to flip to something else when I saw an excerpt of Frank Sinatra singing 'My Way'. to a packed house and receiving a standing ovation. Then I heard about how Mr Weintraub had gone on to manage the music careers and booking management of top stars of the time like Elvis, The Carpenters, John Denver, Led Zeppelin and a host of others. 

I went. ‘Ok, that’s great. The guy is good at promoting artists, he did a good job’.

4 Success Tips to Learn from Children

I once read somewhere that when an adult asks a child ‘So what do you want to be when you grow up?’ He isn’t asking just to strike up a conversation, he is shopping for ideas!

The statement rings so true especially as I cast my mind to how precocious I was as a child. I never took no for an answer. Then I was introduced to the world of Television. I was on a popular children's show and we walked the halls of the influential and famous, from the Judiciary to the Football Federation. We interviewed military leaders in their offices and sat in the same room with CEO’s of large companies. 

5 Reasons Why The Employed Should Be (Very, Very) Worried.

“Dear All, Following d current restructuring in (identity withheld) Bank, we regret 2 inform u dt ur service is no longer required. Pls note dt ur letter will be sent 2u soon.”

This is an excerpt of a post I came across on one of the blogs I follow. It was a text message sent to now ex-bank workers who had until the time of receiving it, been full time employees of one of the commercial banks in Nigeria. Unless you have been living under a rock you would have heard of the current financial 'restructuring' that has been going on in Nigeria. A few mergers and acquisitions have also taken center stage and as usual, the 'grass' is suffering.

Home Businesses on a Tight Budget - Part 5

Part 5 of our series highlights a sector that has been one of the most talked about home business in the past few years. It has always existed but it became a little more popular in the last decade or so. It's one of the easiest sectors to start off in because its a very well known service area. So you really don't have to explain what you do! Here's what I am talking about........